You don’t need to have your eyes checked, you are seeing things right – the Cincinnati Reds have won a second straight game against a National League Central division opponent. The win in a back-and-forth game came down to the 9th inning and down to their last strike the Reds got a 3-run home run from Eugenio Suarez and they held on to beat the Pirates and pick up a series win in Pittsburgh with one game left on Sunday.

After a delayed start due to some rain, the game started about 40 minutes after the originally scheduled time. Cincinnati didn’t take much time to grab a lead. Sal Stewart took the 4th pitch of the game and went the other way for a solo home run. Chase Burns had to work around two singles in the bottom of the inning but he got out of the jam to keep the lead.

Two innings later the Reds offense got back to it when Jose Trevino led off with a ground-rule double and later came in to score on a 2-out hit by Stewart as he picked up his second run batted in on the day. The Pirates put together a rally of their own in the bottom of the frame. Back-to-back singles got things started and then Brandon Lowe came through for the home team with a 3-run home run to put Pittsburgh in the lead. In the 4th inning they would tack on another run on a single by Jared Triolo that made it 4-2.

Cincinnati got back in the game in the 5th with plenty of help from the Pirates. Dane Myers walked and then took second base thanks to a balk. A wild pitch moved him to third base and he would later score on a double by Edwin Arroyo. A second wild pitch in the inning moved him up to third and then he scored when Brandon Lowe failed to come up with a grounder cleanly at second base with two outs and that tied up the game.

The next inning the Reds would take the lead. They would load the bases with one out thanks to a walk and two singles. That set things up for Jose Trevino who came through with a 2-run single that made it 6-4.

At 90 pitches on the day, Chase Burns headed back to the mound for the 7th inning with a lead but he gave up a leadoff double that just missed being a home run off of the top of the wall in right field. That ended his day and manager Terry Francona called on Sam Moll from the bullpen. He would get a groundout, but it moved Jared Triolo up to third base and he then came in to score on a sacrifice fly that made it a 1-run game. Moll then walked Bryan Reynolds and Nick Gonzales, bringing up left-handed hitter Ryan O’Hearn and he came through with a game-tying single into right field. Tejay Antone then entered the game and struck out Marcell Ozuna to end the inning.

Pittsburgh would see a new reliever to start the 8th inning as Caleb Ferguson took over for Antone. He got a line out to begin the inning but then Esmerlyn Valdez took the first pitch he saw and hit it into the seats in right field for a go-ahead solo home run to give Pittsburgh the lead.

Cincinnati entered the top of the 9th down by a run but they got the tying run on base immediately as Edwin Arroyo lined a single into right field. Elly De La Cruz was called out on strikes, but he challenged the call and it was overturned and turned strike three into ball four and the Reds had two men on with no outs. After Sal Stewart grounded into a double play, moving Arroyo to third base, JJ Bleday worked a walk to put runners on the corners for Eugenio Suarez. He came through in the biggest way as he took a 2-2 97 MPH fastball and went the other way for a 3-run home run to put Cincinnati up 9-7.

Now holding a lead the Reds sent Chase Petty to the mound. The first pitch he threw turned into a groundout. It took four pitches to get Bryan Reynolds to pop up for the second out. Petty fell behind the next hitter and wound up walking Nick Gonzalez, bringing Ryan O’Hearn to the plate as the tying run. He pulled a line drive down the line but Spencer Steer was standing right there to catch it and end the game.

Key Moment of the Game

Eugenio Suarez hitting a go-ahead 3-run home run in the top of the 9th inning.

Notes Worth Noting

Cincinnati had just two wins against the NL Central when this series began. They’ve now doubled that and have a chance at a sweep on Sunday.

Sal Stewart, Jose Trevino, and Edwin Arroyo all had 2-hit days.

Eugenio Suarez had been in a big slump, going 1-22 from June 16-23rd. But since then he’s been heating up a bit, going 4-11 with two doubles, a home run, and two walks in the last three games.

Chase Petty picked up his first career save.

Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds

Cincinnati Reds vs Pittsburgh Pirates

Sunday June 28th, 1:35pm ET

Brady Singer (3-6, 4.81 ERA) vs Mitch Keller (5-5, 4.89 ERA)

VAN BUREN, Maine — Van Buren’s Acadian Village brought guests back centuries in time on Saturday as a blacksmith worked in his shop while others sewed quilts and prepared traditional French food.

It is northern Aroostook’s first large-scale immersion event. It coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Acadian Village. The village has seventeen buildings, with the oldest dating back to the 1790s, all of which are connected to early French heritage. The village is the second-largest of its kind in the United States.

The Saturday festivities cap off a “Living Acadia” (or “Acadie Vivante”) workshop that brought educators throughout the entire state together to learn about Maine’s French settlers and heritage. The workshop began Tuesday and ends on Sunday. Activities took place throughout the St. John Valley and included history lessons at the University of Maine at Fort Kent’s Acadian Archives, lectures on Acadian identity, French language lessons and cooking in a traditional outdoor bread oven.

Most of the workshop was specifically for instructors, but the Saturday immersion event was open to the general public.

Fort Fairfield French teacher Jonna Boure led the workshop’s activities. The immersion event at the Acadian was inspired by King’s Landing in Fredericton, which includes people acting out several historical roles. Boure has also worked at the Acadian Village for several years.

Boure, dressed in period clothing, said on Saturday morning after showing guests around the Roy House, the village’s oldest building, that everything was going fantastically. She also commended the work of Cindy Matthews, a Waterboro French teacher who also serves as vice president of the American Association of Teachers of French’s Maine chapter.

While Boure instigated the event, Matthews brought her prior experience with organizing institutes focused on studying Acadian history.

Matthews worked with Boure on creating the workshop. She ran the village’s post office during the event. Even the post office was tailored to accurately represent the experience of sending letters during the early days of French settlers. Guests could use hand stamps on their own postcards, and they would later be sent through the actual mail.

Some participants acted out roles based on historical figures and their heritage. Diane Michaud greeted guests in French as Evangeline, the protagonist in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem about a woman separated from her husband following the expulsion of Acadians in the 1700s. Michaud’s husband, Ron, was dressed as his ancestor Pierre Michaud, one of the first Acadians to come off the boat and settle in the Canadian village of Kamouraska.

At the blacksmith shop, Matt Grandy demonstrated how metal items were made using tools from the 19th century.

“The blacksmith was a very important person in town,” he said. “At the period of time when the Acadian Village was starting, basically everything that was metal would have come from the blacksmith shop – your door hinges, latches, the both on the inside of the odor, nails, different things in the kitchen, some of the pots and pans, and the irons in the fireplace.

The blacksmith’s shop, since nearly everyone had to go there at some point, was also a central community hub where people often met and even gossiped about what was happening in town.

“It was a good place for the exchange of information as well as the exchange of goods,” Grandy said.

People have already approached organizers about holding another event in the future, Matthews said, adding that part of the focus is emphasizing that French people, and the French language, is still alive in Maine.

“We want more people to know that there’s living French in our state, not just a historical thing that happened, but that there are still real people who speak French and that this is a place coming to and learning about,” Matthews said. “So, in terms of that, this has definitely been a success.”